The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1887-09-23

FATHERS. Examine the studio, Pursued
by Your sons-Mentsi Esertise.

INV your ~sons-Nental Exercise.
I have been assured by learned pro
fessors that the collegiate course j. merely
an exercise, useful IN forming and strength
euing the mind. Therefore, useless studies
become useful as dumb bells, stiffening
the mental muscles and imparting tone 10
the intelligence. Would not useiul sluules
and the acquiring Of facts needed IN the
/ daily grind 10 come be equally healtuiun
TO the mind
The most our graduates acquire ~
barely a smattering OF each sunlecl
WHY, Merely because there Is not tihe
10 give each branch Of study co~nscien1lous
and exhaustive research. IL may ne
asked why. then, the number OF studies
IL not limited. The answer u simple
Ret ween the vanity of the parents VINO
ike To. say that their sons are deep IN thls
abstruse subject or that high sounding
science and the stubborn conservatism OF
/ the faculty. retaining Eighteenth century
sentiment in this Nineteenth century OF
practical life. the Nurse Is filled with
iares and there is no room for the wheat
OF what use are Latin and Greek 10 the
youth who must soon strip IN the strug
Gle for bready The barest excuse Is thal
they give an insight into the derivation OF
language Welly A dictionary will do
as much. Why waste four years in ham
mering verbs and nouns. dcclensiOns and
c~oniuOatiOns into "a boy who Is destined
afterward 10 sell coffee or soap vi "ha
valuable use is French 10 will take sew
eral years to learn, and the requirement
is purely ornamental, and III most cdsea
not worth a dollar TO the future man.
Fathers. examine the studies pursued
by your sons. Yon will find that you are
spending your money and wasting their
most precious time storing up gllllerlhs
tinscl to the exclusion Of what can penent
them I'm the sterne days TO come CAST
them adrift upon the sea Of life without n
thorough education in some practical SUD
iect Of value 10 the world. and which IN a
needy hour they may coin into bread. ana
YOU are casting them adrift in ships OF
lead without a life preserver or Il spar
aboard. A sunken rock or a storm ana
they are lost.
RI they need mental exercise let them
iuggle with practical subjects-mechan
les. bookkeeping, drawing. practical chem
istrv. arithmetic. the English language
and unNSIfN, Leu lutlu iNhAh w. ny
accounts. how to handle tools, how TO
build and work an engine. how 10 detect
authorizations i'm staples Of commerce, how
TO understand the machinery Of the great
practical world-and not learn the vaga-
ries Of the land Of dreams.
If YOU have learned the bent Of your
sons mind. confnc him strictly TO studies
pertaining 60 his calling aud cast all
others away.
Our boys are not fools. They know the
us~elessness Of half the labors imposed
upon them. and. being Americans, resent
the %encroaching upon their liberty.
Rather than Latin o. Greek. they take up
the fantasticoes of the poker deck, they
twankle a banjo. and are erudite only IN
the latest laws appertaining 10 trousers
or collar. We neglect to give them
weapons 10 fight the battle, and they be
come skulkers i'm the rear We turn
them loose upon the world with no means
Tor employment; they reply 10y becoming
idle and p~rofigate, prematurely wasted,
the soul of Saturn in the body oi Adonis,
crowded from the race for fortune and
fame by stripliugs Of humber life, whose
education ran in narrow lines, but was
sturdy and sharp as an AZ 10 hew thelr
path.-Henry Guy Carleton ia New YORK
World.